1913–1930: a seaplane over the Dardanelles and a naval air corps

The Hellenic Navy dates its aviation to 5 February 1913, when Ensign Aristeidis Moraitinis flew as observer on a Maurice Farman MF.7 seaplane over the Dardanelles during the First Balkan War. The Hellenic Air Force tells the same story, giving the date as 24 January 1913 and the pilot as Lieutenant Michael Moutoussis, and calls it the first naval co-operation mission in the history of air warfare; the 13-day gap matches the difference between the old and new calendars, though neither source says so. In 1914 a Royal Naval Air Corps was founded, and by 1930 the navy flew 45 aircraft in three squadrons. That year the government created a Ministry of Aviation and merged the army and navy air arms into what became the Hellenic Air Force, and the navy’s first flying era ended.

1969–1986: Albatross amphibians and the first navy helicopters

The navy returned to the air with fixed-wing patrol aircraft. In August 1969, the navy’s own history records, the 353 Naval Co-operation Squadron was formed at Elefsis with 12 Grumman HU-16B Albatross amphibians; Wikipedia calls it the 353rd Naval Cooperation Squadron. Helicopters followed in 1975, when four Alouette IIIs from Aérospatiale formed a Navy Helicopter Squadron at Elliniko airport. Between 1979 and 1982 the navy took 11 AB 212ASW and two AB 212EW helicopters from Agusta, giving its frigates and destroyers an anti-submarine helicopter for the first time. A Navy Helicopter Command was set up at Amfiali in 1980 and moved in 1986 to the Naval Fort of Kotroni, on a hill north-west of Marathon, which has been the arm’s home ever since.

Aegean Hawks and Orions: building a shipborne force

The 1990s made the arm what it is. On 20 December 1991 the navy contracted Sikorsky for five S-70B-6 helicopters, the Aegean Hawk; the first flew on 22 March 1994 and was handed over on 18 March 1995. Three more came from the option between 1997 and 1998 and three glass-cockpit S-70Bs, ordered in 2000, between 2004 and 2005, for a fleet of eleven numbered HN 51 to 61. Each can carry three Mk 46 torpedoes, a Penguin anti-ship missile and four Hellfires. Between 1992 and 1996 the Albatrosses gave way to six P-3B Orions. The 1st and 2nd Helicopter Squadrons were formed in 1997, the AB 212EW was retired in 2004 and, by the navy’s account, the Alouette III in 2013. The 1st Squadron alone has flown more than 70,000 hours on its types.

Imia, 31 January 1996

The arm’s worst night came during the Imia crisis. Greece regards the two Imia islets east of Kalymnos as Greek territory; Turkey, which calls them Kardak, disputed that in a crisis that began at Christmas 1995. Early on 31 January 1996, after Turkish commandos had landed on the western islet, a navy AB 212 from the frigate Navarino flew a night reconnaissance and crashed, killing Lieutenant Commander Christodoulos Karathanasis, Lieutenant Panagiotis Vlachakos and Petty Officer Hector Gialopsos. Wikipedia notes speculation that Turkish fire brought it down; no official statement from either government confirming that was found. The crisis was defused that morning with US mediation by Richard Holbrooke, and both sides withdrew. In 2021 three new navy vessels were named after the three officers, and on the 30th anniversary in 2026 the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said there are no ‘grey zones’ in the Aegean.

2018–2026: one Aviation Command, the MH-60R and drones

On 23 January 2018 the Helicopter Command and the 353 Squadron were renamed the Hellenic Navy Air Command and the Hellenic Navy Aircraft Squadron, putting rotary and fixed wing under one navy command. The P-3Bs had been in poor shape: Wikipedia records one returned to airworthy condition in May 2019, four in modernisation, and the first upgraded aircraft delivered on 15 June 2026. Greece ordered seven MH-60R Seahawks, four in July 2020 and three in April 2021; the first three entered service on 20 March 2024 and were based at Kotroni, with four more expected. Five Spanish A-900 unmanned helicopters arrived in April 2022, and in February 2026 Wikipedia records an order for Schiebel Camcopter S-100s, first delivered that April. The defence minister Nikos Dendias called the 2025 naval plan, Achilles Shield, “a new doctrine of deterrence”.

What is strong, and what is thin

The arm’s strengths are clear in its own records: a single, well-defined base, more than 450 people rescued by the S-70 squadron since 2014, including survivors of the Norman Atlantic ferry fire and the victims of Storm Daniel in Thessaly in 2023, and a modern helicopter on the way. The weaknesses are as plain. The patrol aircraft fleet spent years largely grounded; the AB 212s are four decades old; three crew died at Imia in 1996, and Militaire.gr records three more killed when helicopter PN-28 was lost on 11 February 2016. Fleet counts are not consistently published: the navy and Wikipedia disagree on whether any Alouette IIIs remain, and the Hellenic Air Force dataset on this site still lists one P-3B under the air force, reflecting years of joint operation.

Huidige vloot en bestellingen

Sikorsky, Agusta, Alpha onbemande systemen, Lockheed, Schiebel

Voormalige vloot

Aérospatiale, Farman, Grumman